More than 500 Christians and Muslims joined each other at the Iftar table in Nairobi. On Saturday May 26, an Iftar dinner was organized by Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA). This dinner was organized at the Rahma Mosque in Nairobi.

The guests included, men, women and children joined the Turkish delegation. The delegation included Turkish Ambassador to Kenya Ahmet Miroglu. The guests were served Turkish cuisines including kebabs, pastries, rice and other dishes.

Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome, a representative of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM), said: “Ramadan is meant to be celebrated this way, with such acts of good faith like the Turkish people have shown us today. The message I got from this event is that we should fear God and respect and love our neighbors irrespective of their religion or race.”

Emre Yuksek, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency’s coordinator, said: “What makes this year special is that we brought together Kenyans from all faiths, all backgrounds, development partners from all embassies and people from different aid organizations in the same location. This is the first time that we are doing this in Kenya to signify Ramadan’s message of peace, coherence and tolerance.” He said that a large number of guests had never had an Iftar dinner at a mosque before.

Kenya is a predominantly Christian country. Open Doors revels that there are 39,409,000 Christians in the country. Christians, mostly Protestants make up 83 percent of Kenya. Muslims are the next most populous, making up 11 percent of the total population. African traditionalists make up 1.6 percent followed by Hindus making up 0.1 percent of the total population.